Person    | Male  Born 1745  Died 31/3/1797

Olaudah Equiano

Categories: Literature, Race Issues

Countries: Africa

Born in an African village, he was sold into slavery, first locally, then in England, then in America where he managed to buy his freedom. He returned to England and wrote the first autobiography of a slave, 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African'.  Published in 1789 this was written mainly in Riding House Street, Marylebone. He went on to work with the abolitionists. For someone taken into slavery he lead an extraordinary live and must have been either very lucky, an exceptional person, or both.

Click on the picture source web site for more information.

2019: Equiano's place of burial was confirmed as the cemetery next to Whitfield’s Tabernacle on Tottenham Court Road. See the CNJ for a description of the discovery.

2022: Londonist show a nice bust of Equiano at the Greenwich National Maritime Museum.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Olaudah Equiano

Commemorated ati

Fitzrovia local mural

Cynthia Williams was added in 2000.

Read More

Olaudah Equiano burial

In memory of Olaudah Equiano aka Gustavus Vassa. Near this place which was pa...

Read More

Olaudah Equiano - Riding House Street

Olaudah Equiano (1745 - 1797), 'The African', lived and published here in 178...

Read More

Olaudah Equiano - SE14

Londonist informs: "It stands on a ceramic plinth with three sides, which sym...

Read More

Olaudah Equiano - Tottenham Street

Olaudah Equiano, "The African" (1745 - 1797) abolitionist, lived at this addr...

Read More

Show all 6

Other Subjects

Leonard Woolf

Leonard Woolf

Author and publisher. Born Leonard Sidney Woolf in Kensington. After working in the Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) Civil Service, he returned to Britain where he met and married Virginia Stephen. Together ...

Person, Journalism / Publishing, Literature, Sri Lanka

4 memorials
Jerome K. Jerome

Jerome K. Jerome

Novelist and playwright. Born Jerome Clapp Jerome at Bradford Street, Walsall, Staffordshire. He supposedly changed his middle name to Klapka in homage to General George Klapka, a hero of the Hunga...

Person, Literature

2 memorials
White Hart Inn

White Hart Inn

Established in the medieval period and referenced by Shakespeare in 'Henry VI' and by Dickens in 'Pickwick Papers'.  Not to be confused with the nearby White Hart at 22 Great Suffolk Street.

Building, Community / Clubs, Food & Drink, Literature

1 memorial
Joseph William Comyns Carr

Joseph William Comyns Carr

Born 47 Devonshire Street. Author, gallery director and theatre manager. In 1877 he became co-director of the Grosvenor Gallery in Bond Street, which promoted the work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brother...

Person, Art, Literature, Museums / Libraries, Theatre

1 memorial
Henry Williamson Society

Henry Williamson Society

The Henry Williamson Society possesses a small archive, consisting chiefly of collections of letters from Henry Williamson that have been donated to it over a number of years.

Group, Community / Clubs, Literature

1 memorial